Caesarea Readies For Spring Market

Bath rug maker Caesarea Creations will introduce three new constructions during the upcoming New York Home Textiles Market.

Tapping the organic trend, Caesarea has created a bath mat constructed of SeaCell Active, a combination of silver and SeaCell, the trademarked cellulose fiber produced from seaweed. The combination creates an antibacterial and fungicidal product, said Gidi Landau, vice president of sales and marketing for the company, which is based in Israel.

“It's a spa concept in the best possible way,” he said. “We feel its best appeal will be in a natural tone and white.”

Another introduction plays off bamboo towels that were prevalent during the fall 2004 market. Bamboo's ability to absorb more and dry faster than traditional constructions will be one of the selling points, Landau said. Caesarea is having the yarns woven to its own specifications.

“It's not a fiber we're buying off the shelf. We've developing all sorts of combinations,” he said.

The company also will introduce a new construction under the HydroMagic line, which adapts fiber technologies from activewear to create a rug that absorbs more than cotton but dries more quickly than nylon. The new Pinpoint line is constructed of a heat-set yarn with a colored dot on the top of the fiber. “The overall pinpoint effect is very delicate,” Landau said.

In addition, Caesarea's Heather line added a runner. “The larger sizes are doing proportionately better than the small sizes,” Landau said.

Caesarea deals exclusively with specialty and department stores because “the customer has the money and will spend the money when she perceives the quality and the value.” The company works the better/best end of the product spectrum, with retails starting at $25.

Caesarea is not interested in getting into the nylon mat business, where Landau believes U.S. mills still do the best job.

“You can't beat them at what they're good on,” he said. “And I think in the long-run it's very important for the American industry to have a home-based industry. In the long-run, China will not be as cheap as it is now. The U.S. needs to maintain its expertise.”